When Lee Jung-jae’s earlier present Squid Recreation turned a world phenomenon, Star Wars: The Acolyte creator Leslye Headland was among the many many viewers who helped make it Netflix’s hottest non-English talking collection. On high of that, she was additionally writing The Acolyte’s Excessive Republic Jedi character of Grasp Sol concurrently her binge, and that’s when it dawned on the Russian Doll creator that the South Korean actor could be an ideal match for the honorable Jedi. Sol would then go on to function a central determine of Headland’s mystery-thriller collection that takes place a century earlier than Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999).
Nevertheless, Lee — whom his collaborators affectionately discuss with as “J.J.” — stays relatively shocked that his Squid Recreation character, Seong Gi-hun, impressed Headland to jot down Sol with him in thoughts.
“I used to be really fairly stunned when Leslye [Headland] stated that she noticed Grasp Sol from my appearing in Squid Recreation, as a result of I really feel like the 2 characters are so completely different. So I used to be very interested by what made her really feel that method,” Lee tells The Hollywood Reporter by means of an interpreter.
On Squid Recreation, Lee performed a struggling father whose playing dependancy was initially meant to create a greater life for his daughter, but it surely as an alternative resulted in insurmountable debt till he rolled the cube as soon as extra on taking part within the lethal Squid Recreation. Equally, Sol has his personal paternal instincts with regard to all the Jedi Padawans and younglings in his care, and regardless of the most effective of intentions, he feels partly answerable for the Jedi killing spree that Amandla Stenberg’s Mae embarks on at the beginning of the Disney+ collection. Sol’s mysterious previous with Mae and associated parts will ultimately come into focus, but it surely’s precipitated him nice anguish since he first encountered 8-year-old Mae 16 years earlier.
Headland later remarked that she most admires Lee’s capability to effortlessly shift from “daunting to heartbreaking,” however Lee himself can solely speculate as to what she might need recognized on the time of her preliminary viewing of Squid Recreation.
“I do really feel like each of my characters in Squid Recreation and The Acolyte embody this kindness and this want to dwell in concord with others and assist others. So if I had to think about what she noticed in me from Squid Recreation, then that will be it,” Lee says.
Squid Recreation additionally landed Lee an Emmy for excellent lead actor in a drama collection, making him the primary Asian man to win the award and the primary individual to win the honour in a non-English talking function. For the character of Sol, Lee, who took cues from Liam Neeson’s Jedi Grasp Qui-Gon Jinn from The Phantom Menace, tackled what’s now his first English-speaking function. 4 months forward of filming, he started tireless dialect preparation to be able to carry out in English, and he particularly labored with two dialect coaches earlier than and through manufacturing. They have been so concerned in all the function’s “minute particulars” that Lee additionally credit them for the creation of the character.
“I might say that all of us type of crafted this function collectively,” Lee provides.
Jedi are alleged to be in charge of their feelings, however Sol’s remorse over his previous failings involving Mae indicated that Lee would have one other tough activity in balancing Sol’s emotion with the inherent stoicism of a Jedi. “There are a whole lot of parts of thriller inside The Acolyte. So, in fact, I didn’t need to present an excessive amount of emotion by means of my character, however, on the similar time, you don’t need the viewers to assume, ‘Oh, what is that this man considering?’ We didn’t need him to be too stoic to the place the viewers isn’t capable of perceive his motives, in order that was a very powerful half in appearing as Grasp Sol,” Lee admits.
Thus, the character’s feelings have been meticulously calibrated every day with the assistance of Headland.
“Earlier than each scene, we spoke in regards to the stage of his emotion, and we tried to regulate and modify that accordingly,” Lee concludes.
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Star Wars: The Acolyte premieres June 4 on Disney+.
Lee Jung-jae as Grasp Sol in The Acolyte
Lucasfilm